Month: June, 2012

Here is yet another quote from Debra Benton’s new book, The Virtual Executive. She does not cite the author, but it’s a fairly common quote – “It’s better than perfect. It’s done.” You may have heard it the other way around as well – “Done is better than perfect.”

Comments, Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: Except when done isn’t done! When my son goes out to cut the lawn, he comes in and tells me he’s done. One problem. He’s not done, and my lawn doesn’t look perfect! “Done” is in the eye of the beholder!

Wanda B. Goode: Sometimes we do exhaust quite a bit of time and effort in search of perfection, and we end up losing out on benefits, opportunities, etc. It helps to look at the big picture – to view the pros and cons of getting something good out sooner vs. getting something great out later.

Here’s another one from Debra Benton’s new book, The Virtual Executive. She says the following about making mistakes.

Think of playing a video game: Most of the time when you’re playing, you’re losing. You don’t beat yourself up about making mistakes. The same should be true in real life: If you try something that doesn’t work out, go back and try again. That’s how the game works, and as it turns out, the most fun parts of a game are when you’re losing.

Comments, Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: Guess I shouldn’t complain so much, apparently my team is loaded with gamers!

Wanda B. Goode: This is obviously a balance. Team members aren’t very productive when they feel they are walking on eggshells. However, fail too frequently and things can go up in smoke. Fail in moderation I guess.

There are two basic needs in life: procreation and education. The first enables humankind to survive, the second enables you to survive.

If you don’t continue to learn, your ROI will stand for “return on ignorance.”

Ignorance makes simple things 10 times more difficult than they should be and difficult things nearly impossible.

Comments, Joe and Wanda?

Joe Kerr: Haven’t had a whole lot of education post college, but I have done my share of procreating. So, I definitely have that going for me. Humankind owes me a debt of gratitude.

Wanda B. Goode: Great quotes. Learning is so important. The hard part is making the time to do it. It’s easy to get swept up in the day-to-day of our busy jobs and neglect our education. We need to block off some time each week for ourselves and encourage our team members to do the same.

Some related quotes and a related post

“Why don’t they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.”
– Will Rogers

“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as long as we live.”